Goal: Talk about plans and intentions.
Course progress: lesson 143 / 200 · tip: use the ← and → keys to change lesson
Now hear it and say it
This written course teaches you to read and write. The LIMBA audio course makes you speak: 24 lessons of 12 to 15 minutes, recorded with a native speaker. You listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect partner for these pages.
Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keepLimba's plans for autumn
September is close, and so is my departure. This morning I drew a calendar of my last weeks and pinned it above my bed: Lake Khövsgöl at the end of August, the National Museum, a concert of throat singing, a last visit to Dulmaa, and then the plane.
Saraa looked at it and laughed. "You're planning more for one month than for the whole year!" She is right. When time becomes short, every day needs a plan.
| Mongolian | English |
|---|---|
| төлөвлөх | to plan |
| шийдэх | to decide |
| сарын сүүлээр | at the end of the month |
| сарын эхээр | at the beginning of the month |
| нисэх | to fly |
| үндэсний музей | national museum |
| хөөмий | throat singing |
| тоглолт | concert, show |
| хонь хариулах | to herd sheep |
| тасалбар | ticket |
| ээжийнд | at (my) mother's, to (my) mother's home |
| ирэх сард | next month |
| Form | What it says | Example |
|---|---|---|
| –на | it will happen: decided or certain | Би есдүгээр сарын сүүлээр буцна. |
| –х гэж байна | I'm going to, I intend to | Би Мөрөн хүртэл нисэх гэж байна. |
| –хаар төлөвлөж байна | I'm planning to | Би Хөвсгөл рүү явахаар төлөвлөж байна. |
You know –на / –но / –нэ / –нө from lesson 42. About the future, it states what will happen, with no doubt: Хичээл есдүгээр сарын нэгэнд эхэлнэ. "Classes start on 1 September."
The –х participle with гэж байна (literally "is saying to do") announces an intention, or something that is about to happen. It is the closest Mongolian form to English "be going to".
In a question with a question word, add вэ: Чи юу хийх гэж байна вэ? "What are you going to do?"
–хаар is the instrumental of the –х participle, the "in order to" form of lesson 116. With төлөвлөх (to plan) and шийдэх (to decide), it says what the plan or the decision is about.
The vowel follows harmony: явахаар, сонсохоор, үзэхээр, өгөхөөр.
Go deeper in the grammar guide: Mongolian time expressions · Complex sentences: гэж and nominalised clauses · The present and the future
Хөвсгөл нуур, in the far north, is the deepest lake in Mongolia and holds most of the country's fresh water. From Ulaanbaatar, most travellers fly or drive to Мөрөн, the centre of Khövsgöl province, and continue by car to the lake shore. You will go there with Limba in lesson 161.
Choose the right answer, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.
Well done! Lesson 143 is ticked on your course map.
Write your answer on paper or in your head first, then reveal the model answer.
☰ See all 200 lessons · Back to top ↑
Lesson done? Train your ear
This written course teaches you to read and write. The LIMBA audio course makes you speak: 24 lessons of 12 to 15 minutes, recorded with a native speaker. You listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect partner for these pages.
Download the Mongolian audio course24 audio lessons · MP3 · yours to keep